Cheyenne Police Chief: ‘We’re Doing Things Right’

A report released by the Cheyenne Police Department today (Friday), shows the department's procedures are consistent with the best policing practices in the country.

In December of 2014, President Obama formed the Task Force on 21st Century Policing and tasked them to identify best practices in policing that promote effective crime reduction while building public trust.

"They came out with 59 different recommendations that a police department should be engaged in," said Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak. "Most of what was recommended we were already doing."

Kozak says the report really emphasized community involvement, which is why the department launched a campaign to increase membership in its Citizens Advisory Committee.

"We now have about 30 members on that committee from all different, diverse walks of life and we really value their input," said Kozak. "In fact, that committee reviews some of our policy revisions."

Kozak says the department has also assigned an officer on each squad to engage the community through social media and tied community policing to annual performance evaluations.

"Everything is always tied back to a focus on community policing, so every officer is doing the same thing for the right reason," said Kozak.